With social media, screenshots, viral moments, and constant online judgment, it sometimes feels like people are under pressure to never say the wrong thing, change their mind, or fail publicly.
Do you think this fear makes honest conversations and personal growth harder?
Sometimes. But I will give all the same advice my old boss would tell us all the time.
“Always act as if you are on stage. Always act as if you have an audience hanging on your every word. Always act as if someone is watching you. Because there is always someone watching. If you do this, you will always do the right thing.” Chief George A Rowley.
I think this is good advice for us as children of God. We may be the only Jesus people see. If people see no difference in us, then they do others in the world, then what Jesus are people seeing?
Peter
I think it makes it harder, but I also think that people are less afraid to put themselves out there. That can be a good thing but it can also be a bad thing. The second you hit “post,” whatever you send out to the internet is there for life and not enough people (especially young people) know that/realize that.
We certainly do live in a “cancel culture” that will censor you for going against what is culturally acceptable. Sometimes this can be a good thing when it’s something morally wrong, but sometimes we end up censoring someone simply for an unpopular opinion.
I have thought about this and been thankful I grew up before social media was absolutely everywhere and so I didn’t even have an opportunity as a preteen or young teenager to post something inappropriate, stupid, or anything I might regret. Not that I necessarily would have, but who knows? Teenagers are just figuring things out and forming their opinions—having a social media platform that can reach hundreds or thousands of people is a lot of pressure!
I think of several verses in Proverbs such as 21:23 which says, “Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul out of trouble.” It’s almost always better to take a step back and pray and ask for wisdom rather than to blurt out an emotionally-charged response or to act based on being emotionally-triggered. I think we could actually do with a lot more of that kind of discernment today, so in that sense, I think people could probably do well to be more afraid, not of making mistakes, but of spouting an opinion or doing something that they will later regret.